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VOLUME 41, NO. 1 SPRING 2016 CERCIS CANADENSIS, THE EASTERN REDBUD by William Astifan, Arboretum Director small eastern American woodland understory tree, The adaptive redbud is extensively planted as an the eastern redbud, Cercis (from the Greek kerkis ornamental throughout the eastern United States. It is A meaning weaver’s shuttle) canadensis, is common usually found as an understory tree in mixed forests. It from southern Canada to the Piedmont, Alabama and east grows best in moist, well-drained soil in part shade to Texas. The tree has a short single or multi-stem trunk and part sun. However, the eastern redbud has proven to be rounded umbrella-like crown of spreading branches. very adaptable to different soils, full sun and dry areas. If Standing 20 to 30 feet tall at the edges of woods, in a grown in wet soils, it is prone to root rot. It is not especially garden or as a specimen on a lawn, the redbud waits for vulnerable to insects or diseases, and is relatively easy to the warming days of spring to burst from winter with a maintain. delightful display of purplish, rosy pink blooms before There are several redbud cultivars on campus. Two it leafs out. It appears as if it was hiding, waiting for the of the more unusual are near the entrance to Sharpless warmer days. The redbud announcing spring in its own Auditorium. ‘Alba’ is a white-flowering tree and is on the special way makes it one of my spring favorites. When right of the sidewalk. ‘Hearts of Gold’, left of the auditorium traveling, I still recall the beauty of the redbud blooms entrance, lives up to its name with maturing yellow then scattered along the highways and at the edges of woods, light green-tinted leaves. ‘Forest Pansy’ emerges with accenting the green flush of spring grass and brilliant red shiny red-purple leaves that remain a subdued dark color of the clay soils it so loves. until fall. There is a nice specimen in front of the Facilities The popularity of this tree derives from the brilliant Maintenance offices. Because of their flowers, all the masses of flowers on bare branches before the tree leafs redbuds make beautiful large shrubs or small trees in the out. The flowers are one-half inch long, sitting on one- landscape. half inch pedicels in clusters of 4 to 8 borne directly on branches and trunks. There is a horticultural term, cauliflorous, referring to flowers borne directly on stems and trunk. Enhancing the blooms are the slender, dark reddish brown to almost black zig-zag twigs that add a most interesting artistic element. The 3 to 5-inch heart-shaped leaf is often wider than long with 5 to 9 prominent veins. The apex comes to a point, and the leaf sits on a petiole 1½ to 2½ -inches long. The leaf is attached alternately on the branches with a smooth, simple edge, and sometimes you will notice small hairs on the underside. The new growth emerges as a reddish purple, gradually opening to a lustrous green through the summer. Some experts say that it does not have a nice fall display. From my observation of the trees on campus, the leaves have an excellent yellow color that sets off the dark zig-zag branches. Hiding in the yellow fall color are the pod-shaped fruits which place the redbud in the pea family, Fabaceae. Persisting most of the winter, the dark brown pods are 2 to 3-inches long and one half-inch wide. It is up to the viewer Photo by Martha Van Artsdalen to decide whether this is a good or bad feature. A redbud, Cercis canadensis, blooms alongside Hall Building. HAVERFORD COLLEGE ■ 370 LANCASTER AVENUE ■ HAVERFORD, PA 19041-1392 ■ (610) 896-1101 HAVERFORD COLLEGE ARBORETUM ASSOCIATION AN INTERNATIONAL VISIT FROM THE DIRECTOR by Bill Astifan, Arboretum Director As you enjoy the articles in this newsletter n November 12, 2015, I hosted a campus visit by Yukio you will get a special look into the Arboretum. Tada, Norihiko Tanikawa and Takeshi Konishi, members You will find that the Arboretum is more than Oof the Rotary Club of Tokyo, Japan. These representatives trees and plants, it is the people and the heritage were in town to visit their sister club, the Rotary Club of that gives it its personality. The Arboretum Ardmore. It was a delightful tour that started in the Arboretum experience seems to grow into your life once Office for orientation and presentation of the college landscape you engage it. The students lucky enough to history. I then led them on a walking tour that culminated at a land jobs working with the staff develop a site along Woolman Walk behind Swan Field where there are four great sense of place and ownership in our long Okame cherry trees, Prunus ‘Okame,’ purchased and planted in history. The special Arboretum staff definitely 2008 with funds their club donated to the Arboretum through has an impact. the Ardmore Club. The Arboretum has turned another corner in My thanks to Hogie Hanson, Haverford College retiree and its history. Programs and promotion of the member of the Ardmore Rotary Club, for assisting with these Arboretum is turning toward outreach through arrangements. educational programs. This may not sound new, however, emphasis is on the type of education. Several years ago I wrote about DEDICATED STUDENTS the new Environmental Studies Program and introduced Jonathan Wilson and Helen White. We will be working with them to continue to expand opportunities to use the campus as an environmental lab. This, coupled with the sustainability movement, has positioned the Arboretum to use new topics to plan programs. We are working on a plan to use this information to expand our outreach to new audiences. The Executive Committee is working on plans to expand our outreach to new people. By doing so, we anticipate potential members will develop interest in what we are doing. Our goal is to build on the current membership base. I am excited about expanding into new programs and interest areas. There are some activities that we will continue to offer: Earth Day on April 22 and Arbor Day tree planting on April 29. As we con- tinue to ready the campus for Commencement, (this year it is on Saturday May 14, a change from Sundays) I am always amazed at the cam- pus’ beauty. I invite you to come to campus and experience spring and bring a friend. I end on a special note of thanks to Pat Turner. Pat, who has served on the Arboretum Associa- tion Executive Committee over the last 20 years, now feels it is time, in her words, “to step aside and make room for a new branch on the tree.” Well said; I know that we will continue to see Pat at our events. Please join me in sending Pat our best wishes. Photo by Mike Startup When the 2-foot blizzard struck one January weekend, several Bill Astifan dedicated Arboretum student workers showed up to shovel, Arboretum Director rather than sleep in on a Saturday morning. From left to right: Miwa Wenzel, Abby Fullem, Zoë McAlear and Adriana Cvitkovic. 2 HAVERFORD COLLEGE ARBORETUM ASSOCIATION NEW BOOK CAPTURES LANDSCAPE HISTORY ows once grazed on today’s athletic fields. Class teams in the 1890s raced each other on wooden bobsleds down the Chill below Barclay Hall. In the 1950s, the public paid 25 cents to skate on the frozen Duck Pond to music piped through a set of loud speakers. Generations have used the campus of Haverford College in many ways. Now a book captures the history of this landscape using photographs from the college’s Quaker & Special Collec- tions. Images of America: Haverford College Arboretum, by plant curator Martha Van Artsdalen, tells the story of how 200 acres of farm fields evolved into an Arboretum of majestic trees, a 2.2-mile Nature Trail and elegant stone entrance gates. Photo- graphs capture the barn on fire in 1922, long-gone gardens, a football game in the 1920s and students cleaning out the pond in the 1950s. “People most frequently think of history in terms of people, buildings or events, rather than landscapes,” Martha explains. “But the evolution of the land tells a story, too.” The book covers 175 years of the Arboretum’s history, from 1833 when the first 23 students were assigned their own garden plots to tend, to the building of the Peace Garden. In between, students held class snowball fights, the Pinetum was planted and commencement day receptions were shaded by a massive American elm on Founders Green. Text accompanies the nearly 200 images in eight thematic chapters. Images of America: Haverford College Arboretum is now available at the college bookstore in the Whitehead Campus Center, 610-896-1178 or online at haverfordbookstore.com for $21.99. Courtesy of Arcadia Publishing GRIM DIAGNOSIS A FLURRY OF PLANT MADNESS by Mike Startup, Horticulturist he madness will soon begin with the NCAA Basket- ball Tournament. Sixty-four teams over the next few Tweeks are playing for the title of National Champion. I started to ponder this negative correlation between bas- Charlie Jenkins, right, ketball teams in the tournament and the emergence of the and Jim Ward of John first spring flowers. For plant lovers, I like to think of March B. Ward and Co. use Madness as the time when the plants start their flurry. a Resistograph to determine the extent I recently gave a quick count of what’s in bloom on cam- of interior decay in pus, in the neighborhoods and in my own garden.

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